Army looks to commercial satellites to augment tactical networking

摘要

The U.S. Army is beginning to use advanced satellite communications (SATCOM) technology to increase network resiliency. Adding low- and medium-Earth orbit commercial satellite constellations into the service's tactical networking is part of the service's effort to shift to dispersed battlefields, instead of the fixed fiber communications and forward operating bases that defined the last two decades of war in the Middle East. The service's next delivery of tactical network tools will use existing satellites to support the new battlefield communications, says Rich Hoffman, lead electronics engineer for SATCOM at the C5ISR Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. To support the dispersed and joint warfighting operations of future wars in places such as the Indo-Pacific, the Army needs several options, including commercial SATCOM, to route communications in case an enemy interferes with one option.